Modernized Analytics Will Help Ensure Millions Stay Fed

Our client is a US-based, industry leader in responsibly produced pork that feeds millions globally. The client is migrating their systems from on-premises into the cloud. This success story is based on our initial work after winning a request for proposal (RFP) as described below.

Our Client

Unfortunately, the company was losing costly amounts of livestock in transit. With hundreds of sourcing farms and a myriad of other variables, it was not readily apparent what caused the deaths. The client needed sophisticated analytics to identify the parameters under which the animals died.

Challenge

The client’s request for proposal was for a data science platform, which would first address the livestock loss. While they knew they needed to do more with data science, it became apparent they weren’t in the position to actually implement it directly. They needed to take precursor steps to move up to data science, including addressing a legacy, on-prem Oracle Essbase installation.

Immediate action – immediate result

As part of the process for winning the business, an immediate action was to show the client that we had the expertise in implementing and applying the technology solution and that we would provide them the sophisticated analytics they needed. It was here that the Prolifics Innovation Center proved it’s value as a differentiator from our competitors.

The client sent our Innovation Center raw data files – data that the client had but did not know how to analyze. The Innovation Center used IBM’s Cloud Pak for Data and other technologies to look at all the data points to discover that the root cause for livestock deaths was high humidity – something that the client could actually control. On hot-weather transport days, one of the client’s business practices was to spray down the pigs with water inside the trucks, ostensibly to keep the pigs cooler. But it had the opposite effect of raising the humidity levels inside the truck, leading to higher deaths. It was this “proof of concept” from our Innovation Center that won Prolifics the RFP.

Action

As part of our Analytics Modernization and Migration to Modern Data Repositories offerings, Prolifics is currently modernizing the client’s data structures and analytics capabilities. We’re moving the company from its on-prem Oracle Essbase to a brand-new Microsoft Azure Data Lake and Lakehouse environment as data repositories and implementing IBM Cloud Pak for Data and related technologies for analytics and reporting.

Result

The client’s modern, cloud-based systems will give them the ability to perform advanced analytics, which will ultimately save livestock and greatly reduce costs. One of the client’s aspirations is to have a “smart farm” operations concept. The client would like to capture sensor data from their farms as the foundation for production analytics. When they find which farms produce the best quality livestock, they can recreate those conditions in the other farms.

About Prolifics

Prolifics is a global digital engineering and consulting firm helping clients navigate and accelerate their digital transformation journeys. We deliver relevant outcomes using our systematic approach to rapid, enterprise-grade continuous innovation. We treat our digital deliverables like a customized product – using agile practices to deliver immediate and ongoing increases in value.

We provide consulting, engineering and managed services for all our practice areas — Data & AI, Integration & Applications, Business Automation, DevXOps, Test Automation, and Cybersecurity across multiple industries — at any point our clients need them. Visit prolifics.com or email solutions@prolifics.com to learn more.